Vertical of L’Enfant Sauvage Chardonnay

2009 L'Enfant Sauvage
L'Enfant Sauvage is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes hand-harvested from our Brick Kiln and Sculpture Garden vineyards here in Bridgehampton. The grapes are gently whole cluster pressed, the juice settled overnight and then all new French and Slovenian oak barrels are filled to the top. The ambient/wild/spontaneous (whatever you want to call them) yeast kick in and the wine ferments. The secondary malo-lactic fermentation also happens spontaneously and we leave the wine on its lees until blending and bottling. In the past L'Enfant has spent 13-14 months in oak....this 2009 vintage the wine spends 18 months in barrel. This way it has a chance to live through two winters in barrel and as the Burgundians' say "then able to stand on its own two feet".  So, how is the wine? Delicious, rich, elegant, satisfying, juicy and complex! Our 2009 L'Enfant Sauvage is a beautiful clear gold color and possesses clean, youthful flavors and aromas of red and golden apples, pears, just baked brioche, quince, brown baking spices, minerals and almonds. The wine is dry, full bodied has balanced acidity and alcohol...and a long, complex persistent finish. The aromas and flavors are fairly intense and long-lasting yet there is elegance and finesse enrobed in the rich, barrel-fermented style. The wine is just plain yummy! One of the very rewarding aspects of L'Enfant is how approachable it is in its youth yet it really is a wine meant for 5-10 years of aging in bottle. There was a dinner on the North Fork recently celebrating all the vintages of L'Enfant 2001-2008 and its was thrilling to see the wines develop beautifully and still offer remarkable freshness, aliveness and potential for further development at eight and nine years of age. As always L'Enfant is a great match for lobster, scallops, truffles, roast chicken, salmon, arctic char and mushroom dishes. 388 cases were produced.

2010 L'Enfant Sauvage
L'Enfant Sauvage is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes hand-harvested from our Brick Kiln and Sculpture Garden vineyards here in Bridgehampton. The grapes are gently whole cluster pressed, the juice settled overnight and then all new French and Slovenian oak barrels are filled to the top. The ambient/wild/spontaneous (whatever you want to call them) yeast kick in and the wine ferments. The secondary malo-lactic fermentation also happens spontaneously and we leave the wine on its lees until blending and bottling. In the past L'Enfant has spent 13-14 months in oak....beginning with the 2008 and again in 2009 the wine spent 18 months in barrel and now in the 2010 vintage our L'Enfant has had 20 months to make those barrels home. This way the wine has a chance to live through two winters in barrel and as the Burgundians' say "then able to stand on its own two feet".  So, how is the wine? Delicious, rich, elegant, satisfying, juicy and complex! Our 2010 L'Enfant Sauvage is a beautiful clear gold color and possesses clean, youthful flavors and aromas of golden apples, lemon curd, pears, just baked brioche, pineapple, brown baking spices and salty minerals . The wine is dry, full bodied has balanced acidity and alcohol...and a long, complex persistent finish. The aromas and flavors are fairly intense and long-lasting yet there is restraint, elegance and finesse enrobed in the rich, barrel-fermented style. The wine is just plain yummy and easily competes with the big names from California and Burgundy! One of the very rewarding aspects of L'Enfant is how approachable it is in its youth yet it really is a wine meant for 5-10 years of aging in bottle. It is thrilling to see the wine develop beautifully and still offer remarkable freshness, aliveness  and potential for further development at six or eight or ten years of age. As always L'Enfant is a great match for lobster, scallops, truffles, roast chicken, goose, wild salmon, artic char and mushroom dishes. On May 23rd, 2012 a mere 204 cases were bottled by gravity.